2011 ABA Journal Blawg 100 — I am deeply honored to learn that this site has been selected as one of the top 100 law blogs of the year by the ABA Journal. From the description:

“Terrence Hart’s Copyhype has rapidly established itself as one of the best copyright blogs on the Web,” writes Ben Sheffner, author of the Copyrights & Campaigns blog, which is on hiatus. The site’s clean and spare design echoes the fine print of a contract, and this is fine print you’d actually enjoy reading. Its column Friday’s Endnotes links and summarizes the week’s most relevant copyright news.

You can also vote for your favorite blogs out of the top 100 until December 30th. If you enjoy this site, I hope you cast your vote — Copyhype is in the “IP Law” category.

Copyright Digitization and Public Access Project Blog — The US Copyright Office this week started a blog for its digitization project, “a long term effort to convert non-digital records of copyright ownership and transfers and assignment of rights and to make them widely available online via the web.” The first post lays out some of the challenges of bringing over a century’s worth (nearly 70 million) of copyright documents online.

Court OKs Private Seizure of Domain Names Which Allegedly Sold Counterfeit Goods–Chanel, Inc. v. Does — Eric Goldman reports on a federal court’s recent grant of a preliminary injunction against 200 domain names alleged to be engaged in the sale of counterfeit Chanel goods. The twist: the court order mimics the type of relief that parts of the proposed Stop Online Piracy Act would have provided for. Notably, the court ordered third parties to redirect the domain names and de-index or remove the sites from search results.

British Library newspaper archive puts 300 years of history online — Four million pages from 200 local and regional newspapers in the London area, spanning back to 1700 are now digitized and accessible online. The massive project is expected to be completed in 2020, with over 650 million articles eventually available. Search is free, though there are fees for accessing the actual images.

Defending SOPA — Rep. Lamar Smith, sponsor of the Stop Online Piracy Act, rebuts criticisms of the bill. “The bill defines rogue sites as websites that are dedicated to the facilitation of the illegal sale and distribution of counterfeit or pirated goods. Websites like Facebook and YouTube that host user content are not ‘dedicated to’ illegal activity and they certainly do not make a business out of ‘facilitating’ the illegal sale and distribution of counterfeit or pirated goods. But if a user posts illegal content on a website like Facebook or YouTube, current law allows rights holders to notify the website to remove the illegal content.”

The End of Free: Web 2.0 Will Squeeze Punters Rotton — Andrew Orlowski notes several good reasons why the Internet free-for-all won’t last forever. “When half a billion people spend more time on Facebook than they do watching TV, Facebook’s current revenue strategy looks miserly and foolish – it makes no sense to leave so much consumer surplus on the table. Businesses are not charities, remember, and nor are their investors.”

Alternative online piracy bill floated — Opponents of SOPA have recently released a draft proposal for alternate rogue sites legislation. The draft suggests remedies similar to SOPA — sans site blocking — but with cases initiated in the International Trade Commission, a US independent agency. More on this when draft legislative language is released.

Accessories after the fact — Though it believes it could use some tweaking, the Economist thinks SOPA is worth fixing. “No matter what the ‘content-should-be-free crowd says, copyright theft robs artists and businesses of their livelihoods.”

5 Comments

Court OKs Private Seizure of Domain Names Which Allegedly Sold Counterfeit Goods–Chanel, Inc. v. Does — Eric Goldman reports on a federal court’s recent grant of a preliminary injunction against 200 domain names alleged to be engaged in the sale of counterfeit Chanel goods. The twist: the court order mimics the type of relief that parts of the proposed Stop Online Piracy Act would have provided for. Notably, the court ordered third parties to redirect the domain names and de-index or remove the sites from search results.

1. Agree that you have made a very good start, as Ben notes, to create a blog having thought provoking articles relating to copyright law. What distinguishes your efforts from those of many others is your use of citations in support of the comments you make in your articles. This is a welcome addition that forces others to actually consider the issues presented.

2. The ITC suggestion, based upon experience with the ITC in patent infringement cases, I submit is a non-starter. ITC procedures in patent infringement cases proceed at a glacial pace, which I am not at all sanguine translates into a workable solution for copyright infringement and counterfeiting cases.

I see that once more an anti-SOPA screed has been posted at Volokh. All I can say is how refreshing it would be if those aligned against the bill would quit waving their arms and proffering broad generalizations, and instead actually read its provisions and attempt to justify their generalizations with reference to the specific provisions of the pending bill.

About

Copyhype provides news and info on current developments relating to copyright law, the media industries, and the digital economy. It cuts through the hype to bring reasoned discussion aimed at both legal and nonlegal audiences.

Terry Hart is currently VP Legal Policy and Copyright Counsel at the Copyright Alliance. Any opinions expressed on this site remain his own and not necessarily those of his present or any past employers.